“I’m hearing “we” a lot but what’s in it for me?” I asked, only half serious. I’d love to see Duke Finley taken down, but I wasn’t going to be free labour.

“Yes, yes,” Voight said. “Here, this is that priority pass I told you about.” He handed me a slip of paper that had been slightly less crudely printed than I’d been able to manage in Talnier. Still carved wooden blocks though, from the looks of it.

I’d wanted to introduce moveable type but I’d been stymied by the lack of lead of all things. This world didn’t have it, at least not readily available. As far as I could tell — Lattora didn’t have a lot of information transfer between towns — all their metals came from dungeons, and none of them produced lead. That wasn’t the end of it, of course. I was sure there was some metal I could substitute, but that was as far as I’d gotten.

Today wasn’t for technology uplift though, it was for politics and delving. I took the slip of paper and looked it over. It wasn’t much more than a pre-written note granting my team Gold-class access to the Endless Quarry.

“That will be good for as long as you’re in town,” Voight told me, “Or until you stop being useful.”

“Nice to know,” I replied. So it was only a token, and he could cancel it when he wanted. Still, it got me delving access, so progress on my Level could start once more. “So what’s the first step? Actually, no, why don’t we just bring what we have to the King and be done with it?”

“Because we don’t have any proof,” Voight answered, amused by my naivety. “What I said about the Chancellor is just supposition, and as for what you heard, Finley will simply deny it.”

I groaned. “And testimony from a noble counts for more than any number of commoners.”

“Like you or I,” Voight agreed. “If we could pass the information through to the King’s spymaster it might be different, but…”

“But what?”

“Nobody knows who he or she is,” he said with a wry shrug. “The King is definitely getting information that doesn’t come through Agenor, but how is not known.”

“So… the King knows, right, about the Chancellor’s official plan?”

The wry smile got a bit more twisted. “The Chancellor informed the council that the King was fully informed about the Chancellor’s plan regarding Duke Finley. Making further inquires of the King himself would be a show of distrust of the Chancellor and would diminish my standing.”

“What if I brought it up with the King, at my upcoming meeting?”

“He’d probably tell you to discuss it further with the Chancellor. Or possibly me. If anything in this discussion came up, that would be seen as an attack on the Chancellor, by me.”

“Which would—“ reduce your standing, I finished in my head. “I’m starting to see how this works,” I grumbled. “So what do we do?”

“It’s actually quite simple.” He paused and leaned back in his chair, thinking about his next words. “My supposition is that the Chancellor will have some way of getting word to Duke Finley. It will be some sort of indirect channel since Agenor needs deniability in the event of it getting found out. All we need to do is find out what that channel is and then either destroy, delay or discredit it.”

“And how do we do that?” I asked.

Voight smiled. “I’ve always found, dealing with adventurers as often as I do, that I get the best results when I present a team with goals and let them determine how best to proceed. You’ve proven yourself very resourceful, I’m sure you’ll come up with something.”

I held off on the swearing until we were heading back. I thought I was doing it quietly enough, but I caught a few looks from our escort. I guess high [Perception] was something they selected for.

“You’re in a mood,” Janie laughed. “I thought we got the permit?”

“Yeah, we got it, it just came with some onerous requirements,” I said, flicking my eyes at our escort. Janie took the hint and changed the subject.

“So going back, or meeting up with the others in the city?”

“I don’t know how long they’re going to be,” I replied. Felicia was at the Alchemist guild, trying to get permission, or at least find out what was required, to operate as an Alchemist here. There weren’t any rules about it back in Talnier, but we were certain things wouldn’t be so free in the capital.

“Back home then,” Janie said, and I agreed.

There was an incident taking place in the foyer of our wing as we arrived. To my displeasure, I recognised one of the combatants.

“What did you say about my father?” Aubert demanded of the man he had pressed against the wall. He’d twisted the man’s arm back with one hand, and the other was on the victim’s head.

“Nothing at all my lord!” the man protested. “I merely spoke of the possibility of things going faster!”

I glanced over at the guards, who were studiously doing nothing. Aubert was a noble after all, and the man… probably wasn’t, going by his clothing. A doublet and hose, fine enough for a wealthy commoner, but not what a noble would wear.

Nor was it a palace uniform, so I couldn’t get his role through [Identify]. The man himself seemed fairly small. Not a fighter, given how easily he was being manhandled by Aubert.

“Bullying men now, I see. Is that an improvement, or have you just changed preferences?” I drawled the words as I came up behind the pair. Janie snickered audibly.

Aubert’s head whipped around at the sound of my voice. His face went red, either from embarrassment or increased rage.

“You— He—” he stuttered, unable to say anything coherent. Seemingly realising that his current position wasn’t a good look, he released the man and turned towards me.

The man slid down the wall and ended up lying on the floor. “Thank you for your kindness, Sire — your generosity is unparalleled.”

Janie snickered again, but I didn’t have the time to figure out why. I was staring down Aubert, who was trying to control himself enough to address me. I figured he was very close to attacking me in rage, so I didn’t provoke him further. I just glared at him while he tried to get himself together.

I was pretty sure that, unlike the guy on the floor, I was important enough that he couldn’t just attack me with impunity. If he tried, I was fairly confident that Janie would set him on fire. Which might cause us a few problems, but his problems would suddenly become much worse.

He seemed to come to the same conclusion. Giving me the tiniest of bows, he turned on his heel and stalked off. I guess this means his apartments are on the first floor, I thought.

You have defeated Aubert Duvost in a Tier 4 Social Contest! You have earned 16 XP

“Are you alright?” I asked the man, stepping forward to help him up. “One of my party is a [Healer], I could ask her to take a look at you?”

“Thank you, fair maid, I am indebted for your aid.” The man said. Now that he was upright I could see that he was actually a hair shorter than I was and slightly built with it. He could easily pass as a woman — turning that around, and thinking of a common fantasy trope, I glanced at his prominent Adam’s apple. Everything was in order.

“Why are you talking that way?” Janie burst out. “It’s funny enough with the accent!”

“Pray don’t complain, I only do it to entertain,” the man replied with a grin. I heard the rhyme that time, both in English and in Latorran — though how that worked, I didn’t know. As for the accent, I had no idea what Janie was talking about. Accents didn’t make it through the translator, though sometimes unusual speaking patterns did.

“I’m Kandis Hammond,” I said, ignoring the byplay. “This is Janie Baker. Can I ask who you are? You don’t seem like one of the normal palace guests.”

“Of course! I am Vodurn, at your service. You find before you the least official of all the officials. For my sins, I have been assigned the role of the King’s Fool.”

“I see. My apartments are upstairs, shall we head up?”

Either he was used to getting asked about it, or my face was giving away my confusion because he grinned knowingly as we headed up the stairs.

“Expecting a uniform? Something in five clashing colours, with bells on every extremity?”

“Well, yes,” I said, ignoring Janie’s giggles.

“The King’s taste does not run that way— he prefers his jesters to be dapper, and not dappled. So I am freed of that particular shackle.”

This guy was a riot, at least according to Janie. He had her in stitches by the time we got to our apartment, and I’d taken to laughing along. I was getting almost none of the wordplay, but it felt embarrassing to be left out of the joke.

Kyle and Felicia had made it back before us. From the look on her face, she hadn’t gotten what she’d wanted from the Alchemists, but she put that aside while Vodurn was here. She gave him a quick heal, and then there was nothing for it but to break out the tea and biscuits and have a nice chat.

“So it seemed like you had a prior history with that noble-ling,” Vodurn started, his face innocent.

“And you don’t?” I scoffed. “If that was your first encounter, you must have really said something to set him off that badly.”

Vodurn shrugged. “My master’s taste in humour lies toward petty cruelties inflicted on his Court,” he said. “I was testing out a minor needling, to see if it would prick.” He made a sad face, “The would-be Count is tightly wound, it seems.”

“About certain matters, yes,” I said. “Why is he still here? I hadn’t thought that his confirmation would be that controversial.”

Vodurn made a non-committal noise as he sipped his tea. “His cousin has also made a claim on the position.”

“Isn’t Guillaume in prison?” I asked incredulously.

“Indeed, but he is in prison here, which is quite convenient for pressing a claim against the Crown. And he has Lord Finley’s backing so…”

“Of course,” I said sourly. “Finley was behind Guillaume’s coup attempt.”

“Duvost has mentioned that, perhaps unwisely. He’s made no secret of the fact that he plans to accuse Duke Finley as soon as he has the rank to press the accusation.”

“Let me guess, the King doesn’t want one of his dukes accused of… whatever that would be. Murder of the Count, at least. So he’s… just putting the whole thing on hold?”

“It’s not a solution that can last forever,” Vodurn admitted, “But for as long as it does last, the King holds something to keep Finley in check.”

“Never thought I’d feel sorry for old Aubey,” Janie said. “But… oh wait, I still don’t.” She must have seen something in my face, because she suddenly looked alarmed.

“No! Don’t get ideas about saving him!” she groaned. “Don’t you remember what a shit he was last time?”

“I remember,” I said. “But Finley is a bigger problem, for us and the Kingdom both. I can’t believe that the King wants to keep him around.”

“Out of gratitude, I believe I’ll refrain from passing that advice on the King,” Vodurn said, smiling. “I can’t speak for him, of course, but I’ve observed that he doesn’t have a problem with monsters, as long as they’re kept tightly leashed.”

“Half the problems with this kingdom, right there,” I muttered. “Anyway, Janie, I don’t have any ideas yet, but if it's a fight between Aubert and Finley, we want Aubert to win.”

I looked over at Kyle and Felicia who hadn’t really been following this conversation. They didn’t know Aubert from a piece of chicken, and everything they knew about Finley they’d heard from me.

“That does sound like the best plan?” Felicia said. “I’m not really used to the idea of taking sides in a fight between nobles.” Kyle nodded, and so did Janie, if reluctantly.

“How exciting!” Vodurn said. “Rest assured, I will keep your words in the deepest confidence. And if there is any way this poor Fool can aid you in your quest, please don’t hesitate to let me know.”